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Text File | 1990-06-29 | 19.4 KB | 421 lines

Documentation for Screen Peace 1.2 by Anthony Andersen Compuserve [72037,2474] Program and documentation Copyright 1990 Anthony Andersen [1.0 Introduction] Screen Peace is a screen saver for Microsoft Windows 3.0. "So what?", you say, "I've seen lots of screen savers for Windows." Well... this one is different. Screen Peace by itself is not terribly flashy - it just blanks the screen after a certain number of seconds, but it is extensible. You can add additional screen savers just by putting more screen saver files in the proper directory. If you have the Windows 3.0 SDK, the Microsoft C 6.0 compiler and the Screen Peace saver kit, you can make your own screen savers. Screen Peace screen savers are invoked in two ways: 1. if you don't a) move the mouse or b) click a mouse button or c) hit a key during a period of time longer than the Saver Delay time (default is 300 seconds). 2. if you move the mouse into the Saver Now Corner (default is the upper left corner). See the configuration options (Section 4) for information on changing these values. Screen Peace picks a saver extension randomly from the saver extensions in the Saver Path directory. Screen Peace 1.2 may be freely distributed with the following three conditions: 1. This file be distributed along with the SAVER.EXE and SAVERDLL.DLL files. 2. No money may be charged for the Screen Peace program. 3. No more than $7 may be charged for the media it is shipped on. Screen Peace is CharityWare. Please see the note near the end of this file about payment (don't worry, it's a VERY easy payment plan and you can feel good about paying for this program). If you paid money to someone other than me for a disk containing Screen Peace, you have NOT paid for Screen Peace, but for the disk it came on. [1.1 Screen Peace 1.1 additions] Screen Peace 1.1 will change the Wallpaper bitmap if you specify that it should. It randomly picks a bitmap from the directory you specify as the Bitmap Directory. Screen Peace 1.1 shows you which screen saver extensions are enabled. If an extension is enabled, you will see a small circle ("degrees" mark - as in temperature or portions of an angle) after the name of the saver in the "Configure" list box in the Options dialog. [1.2 Screen Peace 1.2 additions] Lots of bugs fixed! 1. Saver Now and Saver Never corners should now work properly in all cases. 2. The problem with non-readable disks is fixed (if this happened to you, you probably clicked on a floppy drive icon in the program manager when there was no disk in the drive). This was a bad bug and I apologize for releasing Screen Peace with it there. I hope it didn't cause any major problems. The cause, in case you're interested was a call to the C library time() function in a bad place. Anyway, the DLL is about half its previous size. 3. The cursor not blanking (which only happened on certain video boards) should be fixed. Let me know if you have any more problems with this. Screen Peace now recognizes Windowed DOS boxes in 386 Enhanced mode and allows you to choose not to blank the screen when one of the DOS boxes is the active window. See the Advanced options in Section 4.2 below. Screen Peace now realizes a color table if you have a graphics adapter with a 256 color driver. This should help several of the savers look better. In case you're interested, it realizes a table similar to the Macintosh default color table for 256 color mode. This option can be disabled. See the Advanced options Section in 4.2 below. The Saver Now and Saver Never corners are now 5x5 pixels instead of a single pixel. Screen Peace now supports up to 80 saver extensions. (It also supported this number in 1.1 but I neglected to mention it.) The Options dialog has changed its "look". If you have any suggestions regarding the aesthetics of Screen Peace, please let me know. Even if you were using a previous version of Screen Peace, please read this whole document as several things about Screen Peace have changed. [2.0 What you need to run Screen Peace] 1. Microsoft Windows 3.0. 2. Screen Peace. (you need both SAVER.EXE and SAVERDLL.DLL) 3. Screen Peace saver extensions. (OPTIONAL - They have a .SPX extension) [3.0 How to run and/or install Screen Peace] NOTE: All directions below assume that you have a mouse or other pointing device. If this is not so, see your Windows manual for the appropiate keyboard equivalents. 3.0.0 If you already know how to run Windows applications you can probably skip to the next section. 3.1 Copy SAVER.EXE and SAVERDLL.DLL into your Windows directory or another directory on your path. If you don't want to put Screen Peace on your path, you will need to include the path to SAVER.EXE in each of the following directions. I recommend putting Screen Peace in your Windows directory if you are new to Windows, it's the easiest way to get things running. 3.2 Do one of the following: A. (Not a very good choice) Select Run from the Program Manager File menu, type SAVER.EXE in the edit field, and click the OK button. If you choose this method, you must repeat this every time you want to run Screen Peace. B. (A better choice) Click on one of the program groups in the Program Manager and Select New from the Program Manager File menu. Make sure the Program Item radio button is checked and click the OK button. Type anything in the description edit field and type SAVER.EXE in the Command Line edit field. Then click the OK button. Now to run Screen Peace, you only need to double click the Screen Peace icon. C. (An even better choice) Insert SAVER.EXE in your WIN.INI file on either the "load=" or the "run=" line. example: load=SAVER.EXE or run=SAVER.EXE Just make sure to separate the file names on the line by a space. This will load Screen Peace each time you run Windows. By the way, SYSEDIT.EXE is a good program to use for editing the Windows system files. NOTE: This procedure alone will not run Screen Peace until you restart Windows. D. (The best choice) Do BOTH B. and C. 3.3 Copy any screen saver extensions you may have into a directory named C:\SAVER. If you don't want to use the name C:\SAVER, you can change the name (referred to as the Saver Path). See the Configuration instructions below. [4.0 How to Configure Screen Peace] 4.1 Edit the WIN.INI file - This is the most difficult way to configure Screen Peace. I recommend using the Menu and Dialog method described in Section 4.2. Screen Peace knows about the following entries in the WIN.INI file. Find or create something that looks like this: [Screen Peace] Saver Now Pos=A Saver Never Pos=D Saver Delay=300 Saver Path=C:\SAVER Saver Enabled=y Bmp Change Enab=n Bitmap Path=\windows Dos Active Disab=n Realize Colors=y Each of the values in the above example is set to the default value. The "Saver Now Pos" entry tells where the Saver Now Corner is located. The "Saver Never Pos" entry tells where the Saver Never Corner is located. For these entries: A = Upper Left B = Upper Right C = Lower Left D = Lower Right The "Saver Delay" entry is the number of seconds the mouse and keyboard must be idle before a screen saver is started. The "Saver Path" entry is the path to the screen saver extension files. The "Saver Enabled" entry tells whether Screen Peace is enabled. 'y' means Screen Peace is enabled and anything else means Screen Peace is disabled. The "Bmp Change Enab" entry tells whether Screen Peace should change the Wallpaper Bitmap. 'y' means Screen Peace should randomly pick a bitmap file from the directory specified in the "Bitmap Path" entry. Anything else means Screen Peace should not mess with the Wallpaper value in the WIN.INI file. The "Bitmap Path" entry tells Screen Peace where to look for bitmap (.BMP) files when changing the wallpaper bitmap. The "Dos Active Disab" entry tells Screen Peace where it should stop blanking the screen if a DOS box is the active window. A 'y' means don't ever blank the screen if a DOS box is active and anything else means blank the screen normally. The "Realize Colors" entry is only applicable to those who have 256 color video drivers. A 'y' means realize a set of 256 colors for the saver programs to use and anything else means use the default 16 colors. If you don't have a 256 color video driver, you should ignore this field. If you have screen saver extensions, there may be other fields. For my own savers, there will be at least one entry similar to: Sticks On=y where 'y' means the saver is enabled and 'n' means the saver will never be used. NOTES: changes made in the WIN.INI file will not take effect until you restart Windows. 4.2 The Menu and Dialog Way - Click on the Screen Peace icon. You will get a menu with the following items: Move Close Switch To... Corners Options... Advanced... About... The Move item is used to move the Screen Peace icon. See the Windows documentation for more information. The Close item is used to quit Screen Peace. See the Windows documentation for more information. The Switch To... item is used to switch to another application. See the Windows documentation for more information. The Corners item is used to choose the Saver Now Corner and the Saver Never Corner. When the mouse pointer is in the Saver Now corner, Screen Peace invokes a screen saver after a one to two second delay. When the mouse pointer is in the Saver Never corner, Screen Peace never invokes a screen saver. The Options... item is used to set the Saver Delay Time, set the Saver Path, and configure screen savers individually. The following describes the Options dialog box. Below the copyright line is a check box marked "Saver Enabled". If the box is checked (X'ed), Screen Peace is enabled. Otherwise it will not function. By default, Screen Peace is enabled. Below the check box is an edit field marked "Delay in Seconds". Type the number of seconds you want Screen Peace to wait for a mouse or key message before blanking the screen. By default, Screen Peace waits 300 seconds. Below the first edit field is another edit field marked "Saver Path". Type the name of the directory you want Screen Peace to search for screen saver extensions in this field. By default, Screen Peace searches a directory called C:\SAVER. Below the second edit is a list box marked Configure. This contains the names of all the screen savers Screen Peace could find. Double click on the name of a screen saver and you can set its configuration. Below the list box is a check box marked "Bitmap Changer Enabled". If the box is checked, the bitmap changer is enabled. By default, the bitmap changer is disabled. Below the second check box is an edit field marked "Bitmap Path". Type the name of the directory you want Screen Peace to search for bitmap files in this field. By default, Screen Peace searches the \WINDOWS directory. The Advanced... item is used to set advanced options. If you check the "Active DOS box disables Screen Peace" box, Screen Peace will not activate when a Windowed DOS box is the active window. The default state of this check box is disabled. You can invoke a saver by moving the mouse pointer to the Saver Now corner in any case. This should only be needed by people running Windows in the 386 Enhanced mode. (If you do not have a 256 color graphics adapter, the "Realize color table" section will not affect you.) If you check the "Realize color table" box, and you have a video driver which supports 256 colors (SuperVGA, 8514a, etc.), a 256 color table will be realized for the saver window. Currently, some of the extensions recognize the additional colors and some do not. In particular, Sticks, Blocks, and Kaleidoscope need the realized color table or many of the colors they choose will be black. The default state of this check box is enabled. For those of you working on your own savers, please get a copy of the updated Screen Peace developers kit. The About... item is used to get information about the programmer. [5.0 How to preview screen savers] 1. Select Options... from the system menu. 2. Hilight the name of the saver you want to preview in the list box. 3. Move the mouse into the Saver Now Corner or wait for Screen Peace to time out. After the previous three steps, the saver you have hilighted will be started. Sorry, but there is no way to do this without a mouse except to wait for the saver to time out. [6.0 How to get in touch with me] 1. Write to: Anthony Andersen 1211 S. Quebec Wy #3-108 Denver, CO 80231 2. Send Compuserve mail to: [72037,2474] 3. Send mail on a BBS to: User # /496 - Magnum BBS (805)582-9306 User # /74 - OS/2 Mag BBS (805)684-0589 [7.0 How to create screen saver extensions] Get the file SPEXTN.ZIP from the MSWIN forum on Compuserve or send me $5 and I'll send you a disk (please specify format). The zip will include the info you need and at least one example saver (STICKS). You must have the Windows 3.0 SDK and Microsoft C 6.0 to write saver extensions. [8.0 How to pay for Screen Peace] Screen Peace is CharityWare. A donation of whatever you think appropriate (I think $5 or $10 is what the others are charging) can be sent to the above address to make your copy of Screen Peace legal. ALL PROFITS (UNLESS SPECIFICALLY REQUESTED OTHERWISE) WILL GO TO SUPPORT GREEN PEACE, IN MY OPINION A VERY WORTHY CAUSE. If you don't wish to support Green Peace, specify which other charitable organization you wish your contribution to go to (an address would help). If you wish to make the contribution yourself, go ahead but PLEASE send me a letter or message telling me about it. I would really appreciate it. I hate to do this, but supporting Screen Peace has already been very expensive so I am asking for a VOLUNTARY contribution of $2 to help pay my Compuserve bill (I've spent about 10 hours on Compuserve in the last five days). If you do not wish to make this contribution, please do not feel obligated to do so, but I will have to stop logging on to CIS every day and answering every message unless I can find a way to defray some of the expense. Any excess money collected WILL go to support Green Peace. Please make a note with your payment if you wish to contribute to the "Anthony Andersen Screen Peace Support CIS Fund" (or AASPSCISF). [9.0 Other notes] 9.1 If you want additional screen savers, I (and hopefully others) will be uploading them to the MSWIN forum on Compuserve. If you want them on disk, send me $5 and I'll ship you a disk (please specify format) of no less than 10 savers. I would appreciate a copy of any savers you write. 9.2 Many thanks go to John Ridges (author of the DESKPIC screen saver for OS/2 and a really great guy) for the FLEX screen saver and to Keith Agee (another really great guy) for the KALEIDOSCOPE and BLOCKS screen savers. Thanks also to both of them for help with testing Screen Peace. 9.3 Updates will be posted on Compuserve. If you want to be sure to get updates, send an extra $5 and your disk format and I will mail you a copy of the next version with as many savers as I can fit on the disk. 9.4 About BITMAP.SPX. If you put a Windows 3.0 device independent bitmap file or an OS/2 1.x bitmap file (.BMP) in your screen savers directory and name it BITMAP.BMP, BITMAP.SPX will use that bitmap instead of the normal Screen Peace bitmap. 9.5 Password protection may be added to Screen Peace. I personally don't like it, but if I get enough requests for it, I will try to add it (it is kind of a nasty problem given the screen saver extension interface). So far, I've only had one request from several hundred messages. 9.5 In certain cases, not all the savers you have in your directory will show up in the "Configure..." listbox in the Options dialog. This happens when you are running a Windows application with the same root name as one of the screen savers (example: when CLOCK.EXE is running, CLOCK.SPX will not show up in the list box). This is a problem with Windows not being able to load both an EXE and a DLL with the same root name. 9.5.1 It is also possible that you could start an EXE with the Options dialog box up. In this case, any saver with the same root filename whose name is in the list box will not function and the default screen saver (just blanks the screen) will run instead. This only happens in saver preview cases (see Section 7.0 above). 9.6 Please note that if you choose the "Active DOS box disables Screen Peace" Advanced Option, Screen Peace will be disabled ANY time a DOS box is active INCLUDING when the DOS box is iconized. Moving the mouse pointer into the Saver Now Corner overrides this limitation. 9.7 Due to an incredible number of messages I have to ask the following: Please look for information on Screen Peace in the message section of the MSWIN forum on Compuserve before sending me mail about any problems. If you're having a problem, it is likely that someone else has had the same problem and the answer is on the board. This will save me time and allow me to get busy writing LOTS of extensions for Screen Peace. Do not feel that I don't want to hear from you! If you have any comments or suggestions or problems (I hope the problems are about all solved), I would love to hear from you. I will be posting messages describing updates and problem workarounds under the topic "Screen Peace". 9.8 Many thanks are due to Morrie Wilson for help in correcting the bugs in previous versions.